Darren Aronofsky will participate in a postscreening conversation after Mickey Rourke wrestles his demons in comeback flick
THE WRESTLER (Darren Aronofsky, 2008)
Film Society of Lincoln Center, Walter Reade Theater
165 West 65th St. at Amsterdam Ave.
Wednesday, January 5, $20, 6:15
212-875-5601
www.filmlinc.com
www.thewrestlermovie.com
Brooklyn native Darren Aronofsky, writer-director of the brilliant PI (1998) and REQUIEM FOR A DREAM (2000) and the muddled mess THE FOUNTAIN (2006), scores a major takedown with the marvelous comeback film THE WRESTLER. Former boxer Mickey Rourke, who made a name for himself in such 1980s films as DINER, RUMBLE FISH, THE POPE OF GREENWICH VILLAGE, 9 1/2 WEEKS, and BARFLY, stars as the Christ-like figure Randy “the Ram” Robinson, an aging professional wrestler who was the sport’s biggest name in the 1980s but is now a washed-up has-been living in a trailer park wrestling for embarrassingly small paydays at tiny local venues, still lured by the love of the sparse crowds and the respect of his opponents. After suffering a heart attack following one of his matches, the fifty-something Ram is suddenly faced with a life outside the ring. He tries to get back in his daughter’s (Evan Rachel Wood) life, attempts a relationship with stripper Cassidy (Marisa Tomei), and even gets a regular job in a supermarket, but the possibility of returning to the ring for the twentieth anniversary of his biggest match ever, his 1989 battle against the Ayatollah (Ernest Miller) in Madison Square Garden, weighs hard on his mind. Winner of the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, THE WRESTLER, shot in an arresting grainy style, is a masterfully told tale with multiple layers, with the Ram’s potential comeback mimicking Rourke’s own return to his acting glory days. Rourke, who won a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Oscar for his effort, is such a natural in the role that it is hard to believe it was not written specifically for him; in fact, Nicolas Cage was first attached to the project. (Bruce Springsteen’s title song, which plays over the closing credits, took home the Golden Globe for Best Original Song but failed to garner an Oscar nod.) The film is set in the real-life world of Combat Zone Wrestling and the Ring of Honor, featuring such actual wrestlers as the Necro Butcher, who has a thing for barbed wire and staple guns. The heart-wrenching, beautiful, brutal film is screening at the Walter Reade Theater on January 5 at 6:15 as part of the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s two-day series, “Darren Aronofsky’s Dreams and Nightmares,” and will be followed by a conversation with the director. The brief festival, being held in conjunction with the release of Aronofsky’s latest, BLACK SWAN, begins on January 4 at 6:30 with the harrowing REQUIEM FOR A DREAM and continues at 9:00 with the ambitious flop THE FOUNTAIN. Aronofsky’s creepy mathematical debut, PI (π), concludes the festivities at 9:15 on January 5.